NatureScot, through the Sea Eagle Management Scheme, delivers a range of measures to support farmers and crofters to manage sheep flocks to mitigate the impacts of sea eagle predation.

These include:

• Provision of one-to-one advice from experienced contractors to land managers experiencing sea eagle impacts
• Co-ordination of recording/logging of sea eagle activity and flock management information at a farm/croft level
• Loan of scaring equipment
• Payments to land managers who undertake management measures which mitigate sea eagle impacts as part of their livestock management, through Management Agreements.

Payments can be made for flock management (including supplementary feeding, tick and fluke treatments), enhanced management (including additional shepherding and away wintering of sheep) and capital measures (including purchase of scaring devices, creation of hill parks and support for indoor lambing).

More details are available on the NatureScot website at https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/land-and-sea-management/managing-wildlife/sea-eagle-management-scheme

The Scottish Government does not hold estimates of how many people are not currently registered with a GP. Health Boards make arrangements for patients who are unable to find a practice which will register them.

An expansion to S6W-21642 requesting % of payments made within 5 working days, which are not inclusive of electronic procurement card. As noted in the response to S6W-21642, top level figures on payments made within 5 days is only held from 2014 onwards.

Kindred Advocacy provide independent advocacy, advice, one-to-one support and support groups for families raising children with complex needs. Kindred Advocacy currently supports 800 – 900 families a year. Most of these families are from Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, however Kindred Advocacy supports families from across Scotland.

In 2022, Kindred Advocacy received funding through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund (CYPFEI and ALEC).

Kindred Advocacy’s objectives for this funding were:

• Parents will feel less isolated and better able to cope.
• Parents will feel better informed about their child’s diagnosis or medical condition.
• Parents will feel more confident about caring for their child.
• Parents will report that there is less impact on family life of caring for a child with disabilities.

The Scottish Government has provided £145.5 million in this year’s budget on the condition that local authorities:

• Maintain teacher numbers at 2022 census levels, as published in the Summary School Statistics in December 2022.
• Maintain pupil support staff numbers at 2022 census levels, as published on 21 March 2023 based on the data collected from local authorities in September 2022.

£100 million of this funding is distributed to local authorities as part of the 2023-24 General Revenue Grant. The remaining £45.5 million will also be distributed to local authorities following confirmation that these conditions have been met.

In assessing whether these conditions have been met, we will consider any mitigating circumstances individual councils may wish to put forward.

Scottish Government Rural Payment and Inspectorate Division staff and NatureScot staff are part of the National Sea Eagle Stakeholder Panel. The panel is represented by a range of interests including a number of farming and crofting organisations

Alongside representation on the National Sea Eagle Stakeholder Panel, NatureScot run the Sea Eagle Management Scheme, which currently has over 190 participants. Engagement is directly with the participants and ranges from site visits and advice from NatureScot contractors, scheme payments, developing management and mitigation measures and carrying out site based work to improve our understanding of sea eagle interactions with sheep.

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 ("the Act") requires Scottish Ministers, local authorities, and health boards to publish Good Food Nation Plans. Local authorities will be encouraged to share their views on the national Plan during the forthcoming consultation. Following the consultation process, the proposed national Plan will be laid before the Scottish Parliament. Local authority and health board Plans will be published after the national Plan, as they must have regard to the content of the national Plan in the preparation of their own Plans. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of engaging with local authorities during the development and delivery of the Good Food Nation Plans. Officials have regular meetings with COSLA to provide progress updates on the national Plan and to discuss the duties on local government arising from the Act. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with local authorities and COSLA throughout the Good Food Nation work.

Diagnostic laboratories are located within all 14 NHS territorial health boards and in one special health board - NHS Golden Jubilee. National Services Scotland also host the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) which carries out testing on all blood donations received.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the capacity of laboratory blood testing within individual NHS Boards. This information will be held at Board level and should be considered as part of local service planning, to ensure capacity sufficiently meets demands.

The Bee Health Team’s bee heath inspectors have been conducting a programme of apiary visits across Scotland during this year’s beekeeping season, inspecting colonies for signs of notifiable pests and diseases as well as monitoring for incursion of exotic pests. Our diagnostics and science team at SASA continues to provide a free diagnostic service to beekeepers in Scotland to identify and confirm the presence of bee diseases and pests. The Scottish Government also provides funding for a Bee Health Advisor post at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) who provides education and practical advice to beekeepers on honey bee health and good management with the aim of improving bee health in Scotland.

The Bee Health Improvement Partnership (BHIP) has developed a 10 year Honey Bee Health Strategy which aims to achieve a healthy and sustainable population of honey bees in Scotland, supported by an Implementation Plan detailing specific actions to deliver the Strategy’s outcomes. The Plan is updated and published after each quarterly BHIP meeting. Links to both the Strategy and the Implementation Plan are below:

Strategy: The Honey Bee Health Strategy 2022 - 2032 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Implementation Plan: Scotland’s Honey Bee Health Strategy: implementation plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scottish beekeepers and members of the public can contact the Bee Health Team direct by emailing [email protected] to discuss any issues, seek advice, and request items to be raised at the BHIP meetings.

Transport Scotland has contracted Hagar Environmental & Atmospheric Technologies (HEAT) to deploy remote sensing equipment on both local and trunk roads in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Remote sensing equipment uses laser spectroscopy to measure the real-world emissions of vehicle exhaust plumes as the vehicles pass underneath.

This equipment has been deployed in the Glasgow City Council, City of Edinburgh Council, Aberdeen City Council and Dundee City Council areas.

HEAT have partnered with the ICCT (International Council for Clean Transportation) and Element Energy to deliver this project.